18
Master of Bargaining
Liu Lan claimed she could eat another bowl of noodles, but ended up having two more.
After finishing three bowls of Vegetable Noodles, Liu Lan was completely won over by Huang Fugui’s cooking skills.
“Burp, this is absolutely… burp… amazing. Wow, you can actually eat noodles while playing a scenario! If I were a customer, I’d come play this scenario every day just for these noodles.” Having consumed three bowls of Vegetable Noodles with three Onsen Tamago (Soft Boiled Eggs), Liu Lan lay slumped at the front desk like a Frost-bitten Vegetable, too lethargic to move either her brain or limbs.
“Don’t even think about it. It’s an exclusive scenario priced at 138. How many people would be willing to pay 138 for a bowl of Vegetable Noodles?” Jiang Qi poured cold water on her enthusiasm.
“What 138? Why would you charge for a bowl of noodles? Liu girl, if you like it, your Uncle Huang will make it for you every day. My son and grandson both love my noodles,” Huang Fugui said warmly.
“Wah, Uncle Huang, I love you so much! Thank goodness I had the foresight to find this shop for a part-time job,” Liu Lan was so touched that she immediately got up to wash the bowls.
Seeing this, Old John also stood up and started mopping the floor. Jiang Qi, feeling that as the boss it wasn’t appropriate for him to only eat without working, had just stood up to go upstairs and help Liu Lan with the dishes when Huang Fugui grabbed the Host Handbook and sat down beside him.
“Boss, I’ve mostly figured out the games in this scenario, but I don’t understand how Werewolf and Texas Hold’em are played.”
Jiang Qi obviously knew how to play Werewolf, but Texas Hold’em was beyond his knowledge—his understanding of card games was still limited to 24 Points and Fight the Landlord. After carefully studying the Host Handbook for five minutes, Jiang Qi realized he didn’t understand it either.
Jiang Qi could only turn to Old John, who looked like he knew how to play Texas Hold’em: “Old John, do you know Texas Hold’em?”
Old John held the mop and looked quietly at Jiang Qi, his eyes filled with the unspoken question: How could you ask an amnesiac old man something like that?
Jiang Qi: …
“Never mind, let’s look up a tutorial online!”
With that, Jiang Qi took out his phone and searched for a Texas Hold’em tutorial.
Huang Fugui was quick-witted and learned fast. After watching the video for a few minutes, he had grasped quite a bit. Seeing that it was getting late and worried that the secondhand phone store might close soon, Jiang Qi reminded Old John to go home by himself later, then took Huang Fugui to the night market to buy essential daily supplies.
Huang Fugui was naturally someone who enjoyed bustling crowds—the more people, the happier he was. The night market Jiang Qi took him to was the same one he had brought Old John to a few days earlier, mainly selling clothes and frequented by students and retired elderly with time to spare.
Unlike Old John, who was always silent and rarely voiced his opinions, Huang Fugui had his own taste in clothing. Jiang Qi let him pick whatever he liked, as long as it wasn’t too outrageous, and paid for it.
Then Huang Fugui began bargaining with the various vendors at the night market.
He started by halving the prices, and if that didn’t work, he kept chatting. Even without knowing the theoretical prices of the clothes, Huang Fugui bargained as skillfully as the elderly who frequented the night market daily. He ended up buying various clothes at ultra-low prices, leaving Jiang Qi utterly stunned.
It also made Jiang Qi realize that he had overpaid for all the clothes when he brought Old John shopping last time.
Finally, Huang Fugui and Jiang Qi left the night market carrying large and small bags, heading to a second-hand phone store—Jiang Qi still needed to buy Huang Fugui a cheap phone.
“Uncle Huang, how were you so sure the vendor would sell those sneakers for 60?” Jiang Qi asked curiously.
Huang Fugui didn’t start bargaining at half-price for every item; for a few things, he went even lower. For instance, the sneakers the vendor had priced at 160, Huang Fugui immediately offered 40, and after some back-and-forth, they settled on 60.
“By checking the material,” Huang Fugui explained. “I looked at shoes from several stalls, and his had the thinnest soles and the worst quality. While others had soft soles, his were stiff and hard—just by touching them, you could tell they were inferior. They’d probably wear out in a few months. Then you’d have to buy materials to patch the soles… Hmm, how do you even patch shoe soles? I can’t remember now…”
“When shopping, the most important thing is to compare prices and not be afraid to haggle. I noticed those aunties boldly offering half-price, and the vendors didn’t even flinch or shoo them away. That tells me prices here are inflated. As long as the vendor is willing to negotiate, there’s a chance. For example…” Huang Fugui began sharing his bargaining tips with Jiang Qi.
At the second-hand phone store, Huang Fugui once again showcased his bargaining skills, talking down the price of a three-year-old, worn-out smartphone from 800 to 300.
After the purchase, Jiang Qi took Huang Fugui to get a SIM card, briefly taught him how to use a smartphone, and bought him some daily necessities. He also ordered a pure cotton bedding set online, identical to Old John’s, and messaged Cao Yongjun to inform him that he’d found a second tenant.
Cao Yongjun trusted Jiang Qi completely, saying it was fine as long as Jiang Qi approved. After transferring the 800 yuan for one month’s rent and one month’s deposit to Cao Yongjun, the balance in Jiang Qi’s bank account dropped to triple digits.
On the way home, Jiang Qi started considering the possibility of bringing Huang Fugui and Old John along for meals at his aunt’s and uncle’s houses.
Since the bedding set hadn’t shipped yet, Jiang Qi let Huang Fugui stay in the guest room as usual.
By the time everything was settled, it was already 10 p.m.
Exhausted and broke, Jiang Qi mustered the energy to show Huang Fugui how to use the kitchen and bathroom facilities. He told him to cook dumplings himself if he woke up early the next morning, and if he couldn’t figure it out, to wait for Old John to come down and help.
After giving these instructions, Jiang Qi washed up briefly and fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.
When Jiang Qi woke up the next day, Huang Fugui had already learned how to use the smart TV to watch shows.
Jiang Qi glanced at the screen—it was a historical idol drama. The male and female leads were arguing, clearly following the “bickering lovers” trope with a clichéd plot. Yet Huang Fugui was thoroughly engrossed, already on the fifth episode.
On the table, there was a covered plate of dumplings that had gone cold. Apparently, Huang Fugui had cooked them for Jiang Qi along with his own breakfast, unintentionally turning them into Jiang Qi’s lunch.
“Boss, you’re awake. There are dumplings on the table—just heat them up. Brother John came by this morning. I invited him to watch TV, but he didn’t seem interested and went back to read,” Huang Fugui said cheerfully. “This drama is hilarious. A young girl just changes into men’s clothes, ties up her hair, and goes out disguised as a man—and no one notices! The people in this show are really something.”
Jiang Qi understood: Huang Fugui was treating the idol drama as a comedy.
Jiang Qi silently reheated the dumplings, then carried the plate over to sit beside Huang Fugui and watch TV together. Seeing Jiang Qi willing to join him, Huang Fugui grew even more delighted, chattering commentary throughout.
“The wontons here are outrageously expensive—a single bowl costs a small piece of broken silver! The shopkeeper doesn’t even weigh it. What if it’s counterfeit?”
“Iron and weapons are controlled goods, yet the government in this show is so lax—any blacksmith can sell crossbows without requiring proof.”
“This dish is beautifully executed—’Blooming Wealth.’ When the broth is poured, shadowy water lilies emerge. It shares remarkable similarities with Imperial Chef Huang’s Family Secret Technique!”
Jiang Qi: “…”
He’d nearly forgotten Huang Fugui hailed from a fantastical ancient parallel universe.
Just then, Liu Lan sent Jiang Qi a WeChat message informing him that six middle schoolers who’d just finished finals had booked a Detective/Mystery Script for 6:30 PM via the customer service account, with the deposit already paid.
Liu Lan managed the customer service account. Typical Murder Mystery Game Stores maintained booking groups where daily updates helped customers form teams. While researching local stores, Jiang Qi had joined several such groups to observe.
But Galaxy Theater Club was far from typical.
Business was so sparse they hardly attracted walk-in customers—occasional students or young locals passing by might book weekend sessions. Thus, Jiang Bing and Liu Lan saw no need for a group chat; imagine the awkwardness of 95 fake accounts in a 100-person group.
For genuine spontaneous customers, Liu Lan usually reached out privately—after all, the service account had only a handful of real contacts.
Mention of bookings reminded Jiang Qi: tonight would be Huang Fugui’s debut as a game moderator.
Though Huang Fugui would essentially be playing himself, he was still a Cards character from a mystical ancient world who’d only experienced modern society for a day. Jiang Qi felt a twinge of concern.
“By the way, Old Huang, your first session is tonight. How are the preparations? Feeling confident?”
“No problem!” Huang Fugui declared earnestly. “I studied all the rules yesterday. Besides Texas Hold’em, I learned plenty of other card games online, plus new variations of Leaf Cards. I even researched what young people enjoy nowadays and tried many games—quite fascinating, honestly.”
He showed Jiang Qi his learning progress from last night.
Jiang Qi barely noticed anything except the phone—previously loaded only with default apps—now crammed with six video apps, mahjong, poker, Chinese chess, Go, auto-chess, Honor of Kings, and three gacha games.
Could anyone possibly try all those in one night?
And could Huang Fugui’s cheap phone even handle them?
“Uncle Huang, what time did you sleep last night?” Jiang Qi asked sincerely.
“5 AM today. Why?”
Jiang Qi: “…”
As long as you’re happy.
Seeing Huang Fugui’s vibrant energy—and recalling how Old John had also stayed up late recently without fatigue—Jiang Qi deduced that Cards characters probably didn’t suffer drowsiness from lack of sleep.
Ah, truly enviable.